140 LBTTBRS TO GILBERT WHITE 



Nutfield, You will find it between Eyegate and Blachinley in ye 

 S:E: quarter of ye Map of Surry. It is a Eectory & I am told ye 

 Value pretty good ; But ye Proof must determine that : It is 

 called £250. So You may think my entering my Chaplainship is 

 to enable me to hold it wth my first Love, my Living of Sunbury. 

 I have not set my Mind much upon it, because it is doubtfuU ; 

 but this last Circumstance of being tenable wth Sunbury makes 

 it a good Thing to me, tho* ye Value shd be less than what is 

 nanjed, as I always suppose. 



And now if I get this Thing, will it not be strangely and 

 providentially flung in my way, at a Time when Mr Young's life 

 grows every day more & more precarious : and shall not my Wife 

 & Myself have Beason to love Old Women as long as we live ? — 

 I have mentioned this affair here in Sunbury more than ye 

 Chance of it at present warrants ; but I thought I owed it to 

 ye Kindness of Mr. Trenley, to whom I am equally indebted, 

 whether I succeed or no. The late Incumbent died in ye month 

 of January, so that it is a long Space to find all quiet, & gives me 

 the greater Hope. But, my dear Gil, delay your Congratula- 

 tions, lest they be premature, like your Description of the 

 Situation of Bremhill. Yet let me hear from You, for You are 

 very stingy in this Way. I met ye Provost in St. James's Park 

 lately, & just cursorily asked him what He intended to do wth 

 You, & he said it was in your own breast to keep or leave your 

 Fellowship ; for Nobody meant to turn You out if You did not 

 choose it Yourself ; so I suppose that affair is settled.* I called 

 on your Bro:r Benj:n in Town & he told me all were well at 

 Selbourne, he told me be had got another Son. 



Mrs Mulso sends her Love to you ; my little Jenny is well, A 

 very lively, but has no Tooth yet, which keeps us in some fear, 

 lest Pain change her Note & ye extreme Quietness and Good- 

 ness of her Temper. Our Comps. attend your Family. 



I am, Dear Gil : Afftely Your's, 



J. M. 



• It may be concluded from the following extract from the Memoir by 

 Mr. Bell that Dr. Masgrave was entirely satisfied that Gilbert White was 

 entitled to retain his fellowship. 



"A letter from Dr. Musgrave, then Provost of Oriel, to Gilbert White, 

 dated December 24, 1758, clearly intimates that some representations had 

 been made to him that Gilbert White had ' succeeded on his father's death 

 to a very large estate,' and that, on this account his retention of his fellow- 

 ship and, consequently, his presentation to the College living [?] were 

 inconsistent with his present position. The Provost, however, declines in 

 the most positive manner to listen to these misrepresentations ; for such 

 they undoubtedly were, and probably made from interested motives." See 

 Bell's Edition of tho ' Solborne ' vol. i. p. xxxviii. Mr. Bell left the family 

 papers, which he borrowed from the late Mr. Algernon Holt-White and Mr. 

 Field, in much confusion, and this letter has been lost. 



